feign

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feign

(fān)

v. feigned, feign·ing, feigns

v.tr.

a. To give a false appearance of: feign sleep.

b. To represent falsely; pretend to: feign authorship of a novel.

2. To imitate so as to deceive: feign another's voice.

3. To fabricate: feigned an excuse.

4. Archaic To invent or imagine.

v.intr.

To pretend; dissemble.

[Middle English feinen, from Old French feindre, from Latin fingere, to shape, form; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

feign

(feɪn)

1. to put on a show of (a quality or emotion); pretend: to feign innocence.

2. (tr) to make up; invent: to feign an excuse.

3. (tr) to copy; imitate: to feign someone's laugh.

[C13: from Old French feindre to pretend, from Latin fingere to form, shape, invent]

ˈfeigner n

ˈfeigningly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

feign

(feɪn)

v.t.

1. to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of: to feign sickness.

2. to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.

3. to imitate deceptively: to feign another's voice.

v.i.

4. to make believe; pretend: He is only feigning.

[1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin fingere to shape]

feign′er, n.

feign′ing•ly, adv.

syn: See pretend.

feign

Past participle: feigned
Gerund: feigning

Imperative
feign
feign

Present
I feign
you feign
he/she/it feigns
we feign
you feign
they feign

Preterite
I feigned
you feigned
he/she/it feigned
we feigned
you feigned
they feigned

Present Continuous
I am feigning
you are feigning
he/she/it is feigning
we are feigning
you are feigning
they are feigning

Present Perfect
I have feigned
you have feigned
he/she/it has feigned
we have feigned
you have feigned
they have feigned

Past Continuous
I was feigning
you were feigning
he/she/it was feigning
we were feigning
you were feigning
they were feigning

Past Perfect
I had feigned
you had feigned
he/she/it had feigned
we had feigned
you had feigned
they had feigned

Future
I will feign
you will feign
he/she/it will feign
we will feign
you will feign
they will feign

Future Perfect
I will have feigned
you will have feigned
he/she/it will have feigned
we will have feigned
you will have feigned
they will have feigned

Future Continuous
I will be feigning
you will be feigning
he/she/it will be feigning
we will be feigning
you will be feigning
they will be feigning

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been feigning
you have been feigning
he/she/it has been feigning
we have been feigning
you have been feigning
they have been feigning

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been feigning
you will have been feigning
he/she/it will have been feigning
we will have been feigning
you will have been feigning
they will have been feigning

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been feigning
you had been feigning
he/she/it had been feigning
we had been feigning
you had been feigning
they had been feigning

Conditional
I would feign
you would feign
he/she/it would feign
we would feign
you would feign
they would feign

Past Conditional
I would have feigned
you would have feigned
he/she/it would have feigned
we would have feigned
you would have feigned
they would have feigned

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb	1.	feign - make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache" dissemble, pretend, sham, affect misrepresent, belie - represent falsely; "This statement misrepresents my intentions" make believe, pretend, make - represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like; "She makes like an actress" play possum - to pretend to be dead take a dive - pretend to be knocked out, as of a boxer talk through one's hat, bull, fake - speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths; "The politician was not well prepared for the debate and faked it" mouth - articulate silently; form words with the lips only; "She mouthed a swear word"
	2.	feign - make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" sham, simulate, assume pretend, dissemble, act - behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" play - pretend to be somebody in the framework of a game or playful activity; "Let's play like I am mommy"; "Play cowboy and Indians" feint - deceive by a mock action; "The midfielder feinted to shoot"

feign

verb pretend, affect, assume, put on, devise, forge, fake, imitate, simulate, sham, act, fabricate, counterfeit, give the appearance of, dissemble, make a show of You can't feign interest in something you loathe.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

feign

verb

1. To take on or give a false appearance of:

affect, assume, counterfeit, fake, pretend, put on, sham, simulate.

Idiom: make believe.

2. To behave affectedly or insincerely or take on a false or misleading appearance of:

act, counterfeit, dissemble, fake, play-act, pose, pretend, put on, sham, simulate.

3. To contrive and present as genuine:

counterfeit, fake, pretend, simulate.

Idioms: make believe, put on an act.

4. To claim or allege insincerely or falsely:

pretend, profess.

Translations

Spanish / Español

Select a language:

afectar aparentar fingir

feign

[feɪn] VT [+ surprise, indifference] → fingir
to feign madness/sleep/death → fingirse loco/dormido/muerto
to feign not to know → fingir no saber

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

feign

(fein) verb

to pretend to feel. He feigned illness.fingir

feigned adjective

pretended. feigned happiness.fingido

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

And the third, simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be, that he is not.

The best composition and temperature, is to have openness in fame and opinion; secrecy in habit; dissimulation in seasonable use; and a power to feign, if there be no remedy.

View in context

The other, seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on the ground, and when the Bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over, he held his breath, and feigned the appearance of death as much as he could.

View in context

In composing the Odyssey he did not include all the adventures of Odysseus--such as his wound on Parnassus, or his feigned madness at the mustering of the host--incidents between which there was no necessary or probable connection: but he made the Odyssey, and likewise the Iliad, to centre round an action that in our sense of the word is one.

View in context

Its attitude is summed up in the words of the Muses to the writer of the "Theogony": `We can tell many a feigned tale to look like truth, but we can, when we will, utter the truth' ("Theogony"

View in context

Besides, the physician might declare the ailment feigned; and Milady, after having lost the first trick, was not willing to lose the second.

View in context

Crooks and M'Lellan, therefore, turned back with feigned alacrity, and, landing, had an interview with the Sioux.

View in context

In fact, so well had Jerry feigned that he had forgotten it was all a game, and his interest was very real as he sniffed and snorted joyously in the bottom of the hole he had dug.

View in context

"Ma chere, there is a time for everything," said the countess with feigned severity.

View in context

He feigned, therefore, some excuse of business for his departure, and promised to return soon again; and took leave of his brother with so well-dissembled content, that, as the captain played his part to the same perfection, Allworthy remained well satisfied with the truth of the reconciliation.

View in context

I wrecked thee, and to-day the compasses would feign have wrecked me.

View in context

Going into the Market Place he accosted in a feigned voice a maiden, the orphan daughter of a noble Polygon, whose affection in former days he had sought in vain; and by a series of deceptions -- aided, on the one side, by a string of lucky accidents too long to relate, and on the other, by an almost inconceivable fatuity and neglect of ordinary precautions on the part of the relations of the bride -- he succeeded in consummating the marriage.